A world shatters into lifeless ruins and a silvery form streaks away from the debris towards Earth - so begins Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, this summer's latest superhero spectacle.

And for those who thought 2005's Fantastic Four was lightweight, this time it's much grander in scale - and we also have the iconic comicbook characters Silver Surfer and Galactus.

In the original movie we discovered the origins of the four who were altered by radiation: scientist Reed Richards (Gruffudd) became the elastic-bodied Mr Fantastic, his ex-girlfriend Susan Storm (Alba) got the power to disappear and generate forcefields, her brother Johnny Storm (Evans) was ignited into the fiery Human Torch, and Ben Grimm mutated into Thing with a body of orange rock.

They battled Reed's rival Dr Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), who had evolved into an electricity-conducting metallic form by the same radiation.

It all sounds very comic-book - but these are not your ordinary superheroes.

All have obvious and extreme powers but no masks or secret identities, and represent an entirely different take on the genre.

The result is a dysfunctional family with bickering, comedy and tragedy.

And while the first movie frustrated fans with its radical changes from the comics, this time around director Tim Story has delivered a solid film that's light years ahead of its predecessor.